QAA publishes report on NPTC Group of Colleges

The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) has published a report on standards and quality at NPTC Group of Colleges (the College) following its review in March 2016.

A team of QAA reviewers visited the College and judged that the academic standards of the awards it offers on behalf of degree-awarding bodies and other awarding organisations, the quality of its student learning opportunities, and the quality of the information about its provision meet UK expectations.

However, reviewers judged that the enhancement of its student learning opportunities requires improvement to meet UK expectations.

The review report identifies the multiple mechanisms that support students, particularly those from non-traditional HE backgrounds in areas of deprivation, to achieve their academic, personal and professional potential as a feature of good practice at the College.

The review report made a number of recommendations to the College, including:

• establish a process to record systematically staff engagement with higher education specific CPD and scholarly activity

• take further steps to ensure the effectiveness of the College’s internal moderation processes and make such processes clear for external examiners

• ensure that all additional course costs are clearly indicated in all appropriate publications.

  A spokesperson from NPTC Group of Colleges said: ‘Our higher education provision is something that we are really proud of and our results speak for themselves. Indeed the investment and initiatives to improve the student experience were reflected in the recent National Student Survey.  We will take on board the findings from the recent QAA review and continue to work on improving the quality of the student learning experience.’

  QAA’s Higher Education Reviews are carried out by experts from other universities and colleges. Every review team includes a student reviewer, because QAA believes that students should be partners in the quality assurance of their education.

  The review team comprised Tessa Counsell (Cornwall College), Millard Parkinson (QAA) and Rhys Taylor (student reviewer, University of Bristol).